1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems and more particularly to a storage device procurement system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
One example of an information handling system is a disk based storage controller system. The design of disk based storage controller systems incorporate disk and data redundancy with a design that prevents application data loss even when one or more disks fail and the data on that disk is destroyed. Such systems are generally referred to as redundant array of independent disk (RAID) systems and there are many varieties of designs. Some systems provide RAID capability through software, some with hardware controllers, some with special disks, and some with a multiple of these.
A feature of RAID systems is the ability to remove a failed disk, to replace the failed disk with a new disk, and to rebuild the data for the new disk from the remaining good disks in the RAID system (i.e., to restore the lost data). A desirable feature of RAID systems is the ability to expand capacity by replacing or adding disks to the RAID system. In this case, data in the RAID group is usually redistributed to incorporate the new disk and assure that data redundancy allows any disk of the new group to fail as before.
Some RAID systems monitor disk operation and storage use so that the need for disk replacement or disk addition can be predicted. In these systems, multiple transient errors (i.e., errors recovered by operation retry and other methods) and remaining capacity limits are used to initiate a disk replacement or addition. Initiating a replacement or addition, before the disk fails or runs out of capacity, reduces the urgency and cost of the repair or expansion operation.
An early warning system can have certain limitations. For example, for certain early warning systems the message or indicator may be local to the RAID system or may be propagated to the storage system administrator. With such an early warning system, the storage system administrator has to manage the disk procurement process as well as associated inventory. Additionally certain early warning systems, (especially for example, consumer and low end storage systems), the end user must act as a storage system administrator and become familiar with storage device procurement options.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an automated storage device procurement system.